The Interview: Ryan Pyle by Agne Vei

THE GREAT CHINA CHALLENGE: 2 BROTHERS, 2 MOTORCYCLES AND 18 651 KM

Interview with elder brother Ryan Pyle - an adventurer, TV producer, photographer

by Agne Vei

Photo: Colin (left) & Ryan (right) near a remote glacial lake in Tibet.

When I got onto the train from Beijing to Shanghai, I knew that today two jour-neys were awaiting me. The first one had already started and was going to last exactly 5 hours taking me across a dis-tance of 1300 km along the southern part of China. The second one was a one hour journey that promised an unforgettable life adventure I was about to embark on together with two brothers from Canada: Ryan (35) and Collin (32). An hour filled with excitement was awaiting me that I was going to spent speaking with the elder brother Ryan who would take me on a motorcycle ride across a distance of 18,651 km! I will not lie. While travelling on the train, I saw views that reminded of a horror movie: thick smog, huge cit-ies now deserted, the maze of skyscrap-ers, factories and occasional cemeteries in fields... Then I thought about the two brothers who traveled in the span of 65 days the lands of China... I was about to jump out of my skin with excitement and I could not wait to hear about their experiences. After arriving in Shanghai I began to feel really on edge and anx-ious 45 minutes before our meeting. The map showing the location of our meeting turned out to be wrong and I ended up on the opposite side of the city. I remem-bered the movie “Run Lola Run” and the next thing I knew I was flying through the subway as I imagined a good taxi driver waiting for me next to the Jing’an Temple who would deliver me to the meeting place in the coolest Shang-hai-style service. My thoughts came true. I made it to Costa Coffee house with five minutes to spare. As soon as Ryan showed up my anxiety was replaced by our laughter and thus our conversation, or in other words, our journey, began.

• HowdoesitfeelstoholdtheGuinnessWorldRecordforthelongestmotorcyclerideinChina2011?Areyouproud?WasTheMiddleKingdomRideworthit?

Was it worth it?.. (subtly laughs Ryan) The most important thing is that the Guinness World Record came after-words. We didn’t do the ride thinking that we are going to win world record. So, we started our journey only because we really wanted to have a great adven-ture. And afterwords we found that no one has done something like this before in one country. It was amazing. We are very proud to have done that. I think beyond Guinness World Record we are more proud of the story. We did some-thing and we can inspire lots of people through our show and our book. That makes us the most happy.

• Alittlebitaboutyou...YoufirstarrivedinChinain2001.WhyChina?WhatwasChina13yearsago?

I had no interest in China until I took a second year course on Chinese history in university. I was like twenty years old and all of the sudden I became very interested. And when I graduated uni-versity I thought I should travel to Chi-na just to see what its like. And when I came here – I really liked it. And I said: “OK I’m gonna live here like full time!..”. It has changed so much. I think back to 2001: only two bars to go to, one night-club, no Starbucks, maybe only two McDonalds. There was no Gāojià the elevated highway in Shanghai. So, it has changed a lot. Some good, some bad. The infrastructure is very good. And there is lots more people here now. Much more immigration: both local Chinese immigration and foreign immigration.

More foreigners here. The city is much nicer to live in. There is many modern things here. Easy to get the food you like, coffee you like. Easy to rent a home. It feels comfortable. More like a western style. Thirteen years ago it was hard to do all of this.

• Since2002youwerelivingandworkingasadocumentaryphotogra-pher.Yourjobwasclimbingmoun-tainsinTibet,exploringsomeoftheremotestandmostspectacularpartsofChinaaswellasmeetinginterestingpeople.Butspring2010you’vereachedthepoint,thatyouarenotgoingany-whereandlifeseemstohavelostitsmeaning.Anycomments?

In 2002 I started working as a photogra-pher and I loved it. I still take pictures: each year I go 2-3 times to a secret place to take pictures. In 2002 the magazines had lots of money to invest in new sto-ries, new ideas. Newspapers had lots of money. But by 2010 we had global finan-cial crisis from 2008 and the publishing industry really suffered. And 2009 was not a good year for journalism or for photography. And 2010 was worse. This was mainly because of the shift in ad-vertising from print advertising to on-line. And all of the sudden I still had a passion to be a photographer, but there were no jobs to be a photographer, to freelance. In 2007 I was working every day. 2009 – twice a month. The industry – died in some ways. So, I got really wor-ry and I thought to myself that I really love to travel around China. I really love to tell the story. But how do I get more freedom to tell my story? And I thought making television shows – adventure or documentary television might give me a new way to be creative to tell a story and have more control. You know when

you take a beautiful picture no one can see it unless you sell it to magazine. But when you make a great television show you can put it on Netflix, Itunes, you can make a DVD, you can put on Amazon. There is a greater distribution opportu-nity. And I like this for more independ-ence. Cose I was always worry that may-be newspapers will bankrupt and I will lose my opportunity to tell a story. This is my biggest fair.

• AndthattimewhenyouwereexploringChina,yourbrotherColinwaslivingAmericandream:bighouse,hugesalary...Andsuddenly,thesamespringhedecidedtoresign.“Ineedtodosomethingthatwillchangemylife”,hesaidduringyourmeet-upinCentralPark,NY.Itfeelsthatyoubothlivingsofarawayfromeachotherfeltsomethingsimilar?

There might be some special connec-tion. It’s funny. At the same time I was thinking about making a career change. Collin was also thinking about making a career change. He really wanned to leave Canada, Toronto. And move to London, England where he lives now. So, when he did that change he had to quit his job and sell his house. And he wanned to take one year holiday and travel around world. And we decided for the first two months of his twelve he will come to China and we would make our televi-sion show. It is very funny, that two of us felt the same lack of satisfaction, lack of interest in our jobs. We wanned to do something different. It’s very unique that we felt the same thing at the same time. So, I don’t know if there is any spiritual connection.

• Whatcanyoutellaboutthemo-mentofthecrazyidea–per60daysride20000km?Butsoundscrazy!Ex-tremelycrazy!

We came up with the idea together. Col-lin and I are very ambitious. Also we have some good confidence. We think that – if we can think about it we can do it. But the real worry was our families. I think lots of guys when they are in a bar and having some bear, they say “Oh yeh, lets drive motorcycle across the world”. But they never do it, because they have wife, children, job... But Collin and I had a great idea. Having a great idea and making the idea happen is totally differ-ent. So, what I’m proud of that we had the idea and we made it happen: make an adventure, make a dream come true!

• Howyouweredealingwithdoubts?Youhaven’tmuchsupport,right?Almosteveryonetold,thatyou’llneverdoit,bikeswillbreak,dealingwithsponsorshipwastough...EvenNationalGeographicAsiabacked-up,BMWaswell...YouhadeventopayUS$70,000foryourlegendaryBMWF800GSbikes,insteadofUS$35000,asChinacharges100%onluxurygoods?

It was horrible. I think, Collin and I were lucky to have financial resources. We had good jobs for a long time. We were ready to invest in our own dream. What made me more angry was people tell-ing me I could never do it. Like this is not acceptable! And people telling me that it would never work. You have this vision in your mind how that will look, and how that will be. If you are creative person you always have these ideas. And you can see it before other people see it. For someone to crush my dream while its still in my head, before I can actually

show it to someone – makes me crazy. So, it became very personal for me to show these people are wrong. That we can make a good television show. And now we can do something that no one has ever done before. So, the cost of the motorcycles – yes, it was a high cost... But we sold the motorcycles afterwords , so we made some money back. We had some sponsorship, and then we also sold the show, some books. My biggest fair was letting all the people who called me “I couldn’t” – letting them win. I’m very passionate. After, they were all quiet. People who told us we would never do it – they never replied to any e-mail, returned any phone calls, didn’t buy our show. People missed out the opportunity to partner with us.

• Afterfewmonthsofplanning,working,dealing...Youwokeupandtherewasdayone!So,whatwastheworstandthebestthingaboutyourlaunchdaythatstartedinShanghai?

The best thing was that the planning was finished. Planning for a trip like this for a TV production – horrible. So many details you need to think about. So, the worry every day thinking “Am I going to be ok?” - this was the negative part of the build-up. Planning and dealing with your wife who’s going to miss you, kids... You trying to sell the show - but “they” don’t want it. But it was also very nervous because we had no idea what will happen. We had no idea and thats the beauty of such a good adventure.

• Lateronthereweretotalof19ex-peditionstops.Whatcanyoutellaboutthemostmemorableones:let’ssayhemostanxiousandmosteuphoric?

The place that I liked the most was getting

to the mount Everest base camp. This was my highlight. The trip had many memo-rable moments. Each day was memora-ble. Any day that you don’t have to go to work and you can ride the motorcycle for ten hours through beautiful countryside and meet wonderful people. The people in China are amazing, so hospitable. It’s a dream. Our journey in Tibet was very dif-ficult. I had a break down with my motor-cycle and thought all trip was going to be over. I was feeling really low. Only when we fixed the motorcycle and we went to mountain Everest base camp it was dou-ble satisfaction. One - that we are moving again and our trip is not canceled. Two – we had mount Everest to look at, which is a beautiful mountain.

• NorthKorea.YoucouldseetheNorthKoreaSinuijucityfromthe27thflooroftheDangdongcityhotelviewdeck.Couldyousharetheviewandthefeelingthroughthehighpoweredbinoculars?

The funny thing about looking to North Korea – there is nothing there. It’s like looking back in time. At night you look and you can see Dangdong: there is cars and lights and people, noise and its a modern city. And there is music playing. And you look North Korea its all black. No lights, cars, horns, nothing. And during the day time you look at the low rise buildings built in 1950’s. There is no shiny glass, the streets are not paved, its like looking back at China 1940’s. North Korea hasn’t advanced, hasn’t changed.

• Themostexitingmoment?Oppo-siteNorthKoreanview?

We visited Ramadan festival in Kashgar. And this was really special. We visited very big mosque on the exact day when

they had a huge festival. 5000 people, all praying in front of the mosque and this was amazing. It was unique opportuni-ty to look at Muslim culture and also to visit Kashkar in Xinjiang total opposite of Shanghai.

• Whatcanyousayabout1000kmtrafficjamofInnerMongolia?

This was really strange. We read it on the news. We came out of the grasslands and we went back on to the highway. The traffic was unbelievable, but we didn’t know why. And we didn’t know for how long. We had two motorcycles and a car. The car had a camera man. We were driving and we were talking to some of the truck drivers and they said they’ve been there for three days, same location. It took us about five hours to go through the traffic and go to Hohhot the capital of Inner Mongolia. When we got back to our hotel we started looking at the news (BBC News, CCTV) and everyone was saying that there is a huge traffic jam on a Lhasa Beijing highway. More that a thousand km long. We saw around 150 km of a really bad traffic. We were in the middle of the worlds biggest traffic jam.

• Ihavetwobrothersmyself.Theolderonealwaysfeelsresponsibilityfortheyoungerone,eveniftheyaremature.HowaboutBrother-hooddur-ingthejourney?Wherethereanyhardmoments?Whataboutre-connectionbeingtogetheraftertenyearsoflivingindifferentsidesoftheworld?

It was great to be reconnected with Col-lin after being away for so long. We ac-tually worked really well together. The whole trip we never argued once. We worked well as a team. We were very tired, too tired to argue. That was good. I

was very protective for two reasons. One is that I know China very well and he didn’t. But also because he is my young-er brother. I wanned to be sure he’s go-ing to be ok. I was very scared twice. Once he fell in a Changbaishan near the border with North Korea on some mud in a rain. I was nervous – what if he get really heart. This is my responsibility. The other time was in Junan, when he fell and went out of the road. That was really scary – he almost hit the tree. He was lucky and I was happy he was safe. Both times I felt upset, not of him, but just nervous about the whole experience. Obviously we have to be safe.

• Whatcanyoutellaboutyourgear?I’mfashiondesignermyself.Idocareaboutdress!Isitimportanttodressproperly?

We had good protective clothing, but we made some mistakes. We didn’t have a rain suit. Our journey would might be much easier if we would have it. This is our fault. But we did another trip to India and we were much smarter with our clothing.

• So,finallyyoubothdidit!65days!ProbablyMayaAngelouisrightsaying“Nothingwillworkunlessyoudo”...Whatcanyoutellaboutthelastdaywhentheridewasover?

I just wanned to cry. You have so much built-up emotionally. On such a long journey you hold down a lot of your emotions, because you are so focused on each day. You become very task focused. But on the last day - all those emotions come up. You miss your family, you so tired of traveling each day, you want to rest and finish it. Then you start to think you’ve been on this journey 65

days, now you are done. What does that mean? You can’t even believe you can do that for so long. When you came back to Shanghai you have that sense of ac-complishment. Your task is finished. I’m done. To be reconnected with wife and kids is amazing.

• Whataboutyourfamilyandthosetwomonthsyouhadtakenawayfromthem?

Very difficult. To be a wife of the man who likes adventures like this is not easy. My wife is incredibly supportive. She likes the television shows, enjoys watching them – my biggest fan. This is more helpful to have a supportive home. If you don’t have it – you cannot do this job.

• Whatwasthebiggestlessonlearnedduringtheride?Howtheridehaschangedyou?

I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned – you can never take anything for granted including I guess mother nature. Even if we were prepared mother nature would get like extra nasty: rain storms, snow storms, hail storm, sand storm... The trip gave me the confidence to continue mak-ing television, to continue sharing my story – the most exiting thing.

• Andthenextthingyoudid…WhatcanyoutellaboutIndiaRide2012?Whatwasthemostchallengingaboutthisride?

The India Ride is 14000 km in 55 days. Shorter – India is much smaller, but the same amount people, almost. It’s very crowded. The most challenging was the crowded streets, the traffic. In Western China there is no people, empty. So you

can ride the motorcycle to the mountains, look at the river, relax and enjoy. But in India the traffic is everywhere. You have to watch the road every minute. You cannot look at the mountain, cose there is a cow, farmer, car, so many people. No empty places in India. Non. The country is full. It’s much more stressful.

• Lifeisagreatadventure!Isn’tit?Thewebisbuild,videoadventures–done,thebookwritten,somanyofbeingsinspired...Areyouhappy?

I’m happy. But I think it’s my person-ality not to rest. So, I just did a televi-sion show and a book tracking in Tibet called Secret Mountains. I’ve spend two months tracking in the most remote parts of Tibet. Thats coming along really well. On Saturday I’m going to Xi’an and I’m doing a television show for Discovery Channel for two weeks. And later this year I am doing the show for Discovery USA. And next year motorcycle ride in Indonesia just with myself. My brother is retired – focused on some business.

• DoyouthinkthatMiddleKing-domRidewasthekeyofyourlife?

The key to my life is probably meeting my wife and having kids. Thats the sta-bility that allows you to take risks. The most important thing is family. But pro-fessionally, coming to China and being a photographer was the key to everything I ever done, because if I never like it here or wasn’t able to have a career – I would never tried to make television. This is my first television show and it is very important.

• THANKYOU.

To the ones who search for the self-substance!

Agne Vei “With a Wish!..”April 10, 2014Shanghai

/Design & Cover illustration - Marius Kasperas/